The medicinal herb beds
Arranged as they were for the nineteenth-century hospital.
Orrling — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Dosseman — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Dosseman — CC BY-SA 4.0 · FrDr — CC BY-SA 4.0
Antwerp's botanical garden ("Den Botaniek") is a small enchanting garden in the city's heart: created in 1825 as a medicinal herb garden for the neighbouring St Elisabeth hospital (its popular name is "the herb garden"), today a public oasis of one hectare with about two thousand plant species — rare veteran trees, beds of medicinal herbs arranged as they were, a small glasshouse of tropical plants, a pond, and benches in the shade. Its beauty is its size and setting: steps from the noisy Meir and the Museum Mayer van den Bergh, you enter through a small gate to find silence, green and locals reading on benches. In spring it blooms, in summer it shades — a ten-minute rest rather than a destination. Free and open by day — combine it with the neighbouring Museum Mayer van den Bergh in one quiet stop.
Arranged as they were for the nineteenth-century hospital.
The locals' rest from the Meir's bustle.
Leopoldstraat 24, 2000 Antwerp
MaagdenhuisA sixteenth-century building that served as an orphanage for girls in Antwerp an1 minute walk4.3
Museum Mayer van den BerghThe Museum Mayer van den Bergh is a small museum of the first rank: a neo-Gothic2 minutes walk4.7
Rubens HouseThe Rubens House is the palace Peter Paul Rubens built for himself in 1610 on re5 minutes walk4.3
Palace on the MeirThe Palace on the Meir is a rococo palace of 1745 in the heart of Antwerp's most5 minutes walk4.2
MoMu Fashion MuseumMoMu is Antwerp's fashion museum — in Europe's unexpected fashion capital: from 7 minutes walk4.1No — a rest, not a sight, but steps from the Meir and the Museum Mayer van den Bergh, so step in for ten minutes after the museum or while shopping. For a real large botanical garden: the National Botanic Garden at Meise near Brussels.